Who Goes There?

Last night the SF discussion group screened the Howard Hawks' version of John Campbell's novella Who Goes There? Following the film we discussed the differences (there are many) between the two. Hawks' "The Thing" is definitely and adaptation and reflects the time in which the film was made, 1951.

Campbell's novella features scientists in the antarctic, the discovery of ancient alien life frozen in the ice, and the eventual discovery that the "Thing" will take over world if the few men at the station can't stop it.

Hawks' movie is set near the North Pole and features a heavy presence of military activity and Cold War paranoia that the Russians are up to something. The Thing cash lands near an outpost and a group of scientist are sent to investigate the site. After a mishap with the alien craft, an alien body is found and transported back to the station. The movie then centers around the familiar motif of scientists-versus-military, alien friend or foe conflict between the human characters. Of all the B-movies I have seen though, this one ranks high in the watch-ability category.

I don't want to spoil either movie or novella if you haven't experienced them, but the fact that the movie and story are quite unlike one another doesn't really make a difference. Campbell's writing is tight and his story is suspenseful. Hawks' film is definitely a loose take on the novella, but is good fun if not exactly...scary.

All-in-all, I thought this was a fun exercise and hope we can do it more often!

Library as Publisher?

This is a great idea. I don't know how to make it happen here in Hutchinson, Kansas, but I'm keen to try and figure it out. Library as publisher.

Libraries continue to experience high use but with ever-shrinking revenue streams. How can we continue to fulfill our mission to build life-long learners if we don't have resources to purchase books and materials to support that mission?

I wonder if it isn't in the way of the ancient idea of "library". Libraries were once not only collectors of knowledge, they fostered it by sponsoring the creators of new ideas. That is what is proposed in this article from ALA about the library discovering new authors and helping them to blossom.

I doubt very much that HPL could muster the resources in equipment and staff to make this happen on our own, but there might be a possibility for a consortium of libraries to pool resources and help turn the explosion of self-published ebooks become an explosion of really high-quality ebooks.
(Thanks for the link Sandra!)

Authors and Ebooks

A movement is afoot with authors on the side of libraries in the current struggle to find a happy medium in the ebook world.

Give the site a look: Authors for Library Ebooks

We want to provide as many digitally accessible books as we can, but at current prices to libraries we have to be VERY selective. Plus the variety that are offered to libraries for "purchase" is severely limited compared to what can be obtained by consumers individually. I think the four bullet points in the link cited above pretty much cover what I and many other librarians know to be true. I think many patrons know them to be true as well.

2013 Summer Celebration Awesomeness!

I am still recovering from being one of the moles in the Whack-a-Mole game, but I can't believe how many people turned out for the big kick-off to our Summer Reading Program this past Friday (June 7)!

Congratulations to our fantastic Hutchinson Public Library staff for their dedication and effort in pulling this off! If you were there, you saw staff from all departments pitching in to help for the morning. And, of course, we had massive support from a small army of volunteers and could never have run all the games and programs without them. Thank you!

We easily surpassed last years' numbers as far as I could tell, there was a non-stop line at our booth. We will have pictures of the event posted on the library's Facebook page and I'll post some here soon.

In the meantime, "Dig in to Reading", pick up a "Groundbreaking Read", or join the "Quest for Readalot" at the Hutchinson Public Library this summer. These are the reading programs for children, adults, and young adults respectively. There's fun and rewards to go along with each and each one gives you the excitement of discovering new worlds through reading!

Book Review: Frederik Pohl's Gateway

The SF Book discussion group met again to discuss Pohl's 1976 novel Gateway. This is the first in a trilogy that includes Beyond the Blue Event Horizon and Heechee Rendezvous. In Gateway, we meet Robinet (Bob) Broadhead, a man made wealthy by prospecting the ancient space lanes blazed by a long-dead and forgotten species called the "Heechee".

Through a stroke of luck, bob wins enough money in a lottery to purchase a ticket to Gateway, an intergalactic hub of sorts where prospectors can "ship out" on pre-programmed (by the Heechee) routes and return to Gateway automatically. The catch is that no one knows where the ships go until someone tries them out. Some end up in ... let's just say that some trips are no longer "round trips". Basically, the prospectors take a gamble and may strike it rich finding a treasure trove of ancient alien artifacts at their destinations or they may find nothing or they may perish in the process.

The appeal of this book is the unfolding of Bob's tale. We learn early that he is clearly wealthy and gained his wealth through prospecting from Gateway. We also learn that he is wracked by neuroses of various sorts as he frequently visits his digital shrink that he has dubbed "Sigfrid".

Various mysteries unfold as the book progresses and we follow, in a back-and-forth manner, the developments that form the Bob Broadhead we meet at the beginning of the book.

The general consensus of our group was that the book was a good one, despite dating itself in a few minor ways. I have mentioned before that the HPL SF group is a pretty tough crowd and this book was not treated as roughly as some of our previous selections. Personally, I highly recommend the book. Despite having read it many years ago and knowing where Bob's tale would lead, I enjoyed Pohl's story-telling again this time through.

eBook changes

The publishing mood is changing in the ebook market. In the past few months I have seen signs of a gradual thawing in attitude toward us evil public libraries. An excellent example of this is Hatchette Book Group's announcement that they are reinstating front-list ebook sales to libraries.

Hatchette will "sell" licenses of new titles to public libraries immediately upon publication. The cost to libraries will be three times the RETAIL hardcover price. One year after publication, that cost will drop to one-and-a-half times the retail cover price. There will be no checkout limits (the titles will not "wear out"). This is an improvement, at least, in that public libraries will have access to new titles from Hatchette and Random House (who already had this sort of sales model).

I still maintain that public libraries are a powerful ally, not an enemy to be squeezed out. Hopefully we can show this to be the case and publisher attitudes will continue to thaw.

Comics in Smallville

An article in the Hutchinson News today about a "free comic" offer from our local Hasting's store has me thinking even more about the possibilities for the Library's planned Smallville conference. We are working on a combination of discussion / seminar presentations and hands-on workshops for September 21st, 2013.

What I've been thinking however, is that I wonder if there isn't enough interest in the genre, the collecting, etc. to warrant an actual comic convention in our little corner of the wheat fields. What do you think? Would Hutchinson/Smallville be a place where people might come to buy and sell, trade knowledge, attend programs and generally have fun doing it?